Mississippi Queen at Lock #50

Oh wow, great pictures! In the one looking at her steamin away, is the wheel broken on the port side or is that just me?

Bingo! Capt. John!

Not only are those MQ pix interesting, but the whole wicket dam site was informative and interesting. As you know, we on the UMR are unfamiliar with wicket dams and it is good to see pictures and stories of them. On the SPIRIT OF PEORIA trip we see an old wicket on display at the Peoria lock site, but the Illinois River wicket dams are as close to the UMR as wickets got, I think. Now, as to the MQ pix:
1) it doesn't look like the boat can be raised 9 feet in that lock, as the cut line says.
2) Was that towboat just assisting the MQ over the dam, or was it being used throughout the trip? It certainly does look as if she is brand new, the ONA flag is flying, and I know she didn't make the intended destinations on her various maiden voyages. I'm pretty sure she needed help just to get as far as she did.
(That setup reminds me of the time Shipyard was on the CLAIRE BEATTY moving the DQ along as she got a cracked crosshead repaired in 1980 around Cairo. Lexie was DQ pilot and helping Shipyard by acting like a crows nets observer up in the DQ pilothouse.)

Love the Chevette on the bow...'77?... and the abused wheel, musta been noisy when that happened...and the aquamarine panels on the Observation Deck rails...

Nice pics, thanks.

MQ stern

As much as there was to dislike about the MQ's appearance, I did like her original stern look with those aquamarine panels. When they painted the whole stern red, she just seemed to become the Whore of the River.
Here are a couple of pictures showing both decorating schemes, both taken from our I-280 bridge as the MQ headed upriver toward Rock Island.
The first was taken in 1985, the second in 1998. I never did like the engine room metal painted brown, but somehow all that red detracted from the red paddlewheel, in my opinion.
The third picture shows the aquamarine plexiglass in the little observation area on the bow too. I took this as I lockhopped from 16 to 15 on the MQ's first ever UMR trip in June 1979. Some 5 hours after I climbed off at the lock, she caught her stacks in a dead aerial wire and pulled down a tower onto the levee at Albany, Illinois, shattering windshields and sending glass flying onto the spectators on the landing.
A word about the I-280 bridge: it was a wonderful vantagepoint for taking pictures. It has emergency stopping lanes on each side. When it first opened and my dad and I were chasing the DQ, I pulled over. Dad got upset and asked what I was doing: This is an emergency lane. The DQ is approaching. This is an emergency! Over the years I got a lot of interesting shots of all 3 Queens from this angle, and no this isn't the bridge from which I airmailed the cookies to the AQ.

I'd bet money that the photos of her heading over the navigable pass were taken during her ill-fated Maiden Voyage.

Also it is interesting to note that James Gardner's magnum opus R.M.S. QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 also had the aquamarine plexiglass panels in railings on her stern, when I first was on the QM2 for a crossing during 1980.

Judy, I couldn't agree more. I think the MQ looked so much better before the addition of the red stern, lattice work around the pilothouse, "crowns" on the stacks, red and yellow splashed all over, and don't get me started on the "trailer court" on the top deck.

I always thought that the boat looked classy with just plain white all around, and I loved the blue-green plexi-glass in the rails on the stern and bow. If I were the king of the world and she was still a functioning boat, the stern, rails and stacks would look just like they did when she came out new. She would be all white. The only red would be on the paddlewheel and the names on the side of the boat. The decks would be all light gray with the exception of the head deck, which would be gray with blue around the edge where the stars are. I would also replace the mermaids by the calliope with a statue of a pilot's wheel with young Sam Clemens holding down one side of the wheel and the older Mark Twain holding the other, looking out over the stern.

Whoring up has it's place on some boats, but the MQ was not one of them. She was far from a traditional steamboat and giving her all the traditional trim and colors didn't work, it looked out of place and cheap. I appreciated her for what she was, a modern steamboat. I think instead of trying to hide that fact, it should have been celebrated. Anyhow, that's how I would have liked to seen her look...dare to dream.

John

Ditto for the MQ interior...

And when she came out, she had a brassy modern interior design. But then they Victorianized the DQ and figured might as well do that to the MQ too. Yes, she was unique in her original state, a copy in later years. And her appearance was much better before they superglued those staterooms on to the Promenade Deck in winter 1984. I never could figure how those were so prized - you had to walk the unheated, non a/c hallway to get to your room. And of course it took away so much walking/outdoor space from the only deck you could walk around completely. And the new rooms blocked your view from the top deck if you were seated - but I suppose the added income they generated made the esthetics moot. But the 300 foot arc of blind spot which the 2 new cabins on the bow of the Promenade Deck created was the most dangerous thing I could imagine - the only way the CG must have approved that was $$$$$ under the table. A pilot not being able to see that large an area ahead and to his side is a trifle more dangerous than the possibility of fire on the DQ! Lest anyone care to argue that point, let me give you a number: 12/12/1985.......glug, glug. glug

Thanks Capt. John for the link, those were good memories. Its likely I was on that trip as I bounced back and forth as a relief mate '79 and '80 without much time off. And Bruno the stories I could tell about the Chevette..lol. Sometimes we would take my little 10" B&W tv and put it on the hood at nite and act like we were at the drive-in. And Judy I think I was on the UMR maiden voyage on the MQ. And I am very bias about the old and new looks of the boat...I like the old of course. Just like I liked the old stack on the DQ and the model bow. I guess I just didnt like change, because none of the changes they made on either boat were to my liking.

MQ stern

I agree,she looked much better with that blue glass in the railing and white instead red in the stern.